The Case of the Missing Nose

Abstract

The study of an ancient Egyptian mummified head with a prosthetic nose in the Anthropological Collection of the Hungarian Natural History Museum in Budapest, raised historical, cultural and medical questions. The cultural and legal implications of a missing nose is discussed from several points of view in various cultures. The article deals with the significance of the nose in ancient Egypt and elsewhere, the possible reasons of its lack, the history of rhinoplasty and reconstructive surgery concerning the nose and the prosthesis. Cases from ancient Egypt explained in the Smith papyrus (cases 11.-14.), in India described in the Susrata Samhita and later, and in Europe from the Middle Ages to modern history are reviewed